LAHORE, May 14: Aasan Ghar, the Shariat-compliant investment scheme of the House Building Finance Corporation has attracted 37 loan applications since its launch in December.

The scheme was introduced on the orders of the Supreme Court after interest-based lending was declared unIslamic about a year and a half ago.

HBFC’s Lahore general manager, Nadeem Rafi Khan, told Dawn on Tuesday it would be wrong to conclude from the number that the borrowers found it unattractive. He said a large number of people were currently completing the paperwork required for the loan. Mr Khan said he was satisfied with the public response. He hoped that more people would benefit from the scheme once awareness about it increased.

The HBFC has set a loan ceiling of Rs75,000 for model villages, Rs300,000 for tehsils, Rs500,000 for districts, Rs1 million for the selected areas in Quetta and Faisalabad and Rs2 million for urban areas of Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Under the new scheme, the corporation shares profit on the rental value of the house and a monthly return on its total investment based on the lending period. The borrower also has to pay the insurance premium. The borrower is required to construct the house within nine months. In case of failure to complete the house within the period, up to 15 additional months are allowed and profit is charged on rental basis.